BAGS OF THE WORLD

LIBERTY's reputation for buying labels that it knows we're going to love, even if we don't know it yet, is as strong as ever. Having brought the first collection of Piatonna bags three seasons ago, the Regent Street store can claim, once again, to be a true talent champion after watching the label's list of stockists grow to 23 across the world in just one year. "We're really pleased," says designer Pia, who fell into fashion marketing after art college and worked for Holland & Holland and Paul Smith before her design calling grew too strong to resist and she set up the label with her husband. "Our goal was to make a niche for ourselves and keep striving to make an exceptional product that you can keep and cherish forever." Now stocked everywhere from Singapore, Sydney and Bahrain to Canada, Italy and France, the bags, which are made by the same Italian manufacturer as Ferragamo and Prada, are impeccably finished inside and out. "They're unique," goes on Pia. "For the woman with her own eye for style." Prices start at £425. For more information visit www.piatonnacom. (April 6 2005, AM)